Healthy Risk Taking

Some biologists say that between 15-20% of the animal kingdom are babysitters They are defined as having a passive temperament: “slow to adjust” to their surroundings and “often sitting on the sidelines watching”. The other 80% of the animals are homeless. They have a more aggressive temperament, which makes them more engaged with their environment and motivated to act. Biologists are discovering that both personality types have their evolutionary advantages depending on the situation.

David Sloan Wilson, an evolutionary biologist at Binghamton University, conducted a couple of interesting experiments with keepers and rovers. In one study, he set metal traps in a sunfish pond with pumpkin seeds. The rovers, being more active, were the first to check the traps. Consequently, they were also the first to be captured. Keepers, because they were more likely to sit on the sidelines, were impossible to capture using these traps.

However, in another experiment, Wilson transported all the fish to a new environment. He found that rovers were more likely to start investigating their new environment and find food. Because of this, the rovers began eating five days before the keepers began. In this example, it was the rovers that were most likely to survive.

In some cases, the passivity of attendees led directly to their survival (especially when their passivity helped prevent a dangerous situation). But at other times, this passivity actually hurts your ability to adapt to a new environment when necessary.

“Just do it” vs. “Look before you jump.”

In much personal development literature we hear the mantra, “Just do it!” Take the common example of taking a plunge into a cold pool. Often when we try to go step by step, the coldness becomes much more unbearable. This can actually prevent us from adjusting to the temperature fast enough to take action and fully immerse ourselves in the water. Sometimes it’s easier to just “jump” and be done with it. This is when the common rover attitude becomes most beneficial.

A less popular phrase in personal development is “Look before you jump.” This strategy is different from “just do it.” It means we take a step back and assess our situation more carefully before diving in. Take, for example, addictive behaviors like gambling or sex. If we always act impulsively (automatically, without thinking) then we tend to perform these risky behaviors without inhibition. Then we are more likely to end up with an empty bank account or an STD.

Thinking and doing must be in balance.

Sometimes “thinking” gets a bad rap. We hear about people who plan and contemplate ideas all day, but never do anything productive about it. Maybe we want to approach a girl in a bar, thinking about all the things we want to say, but then we overanalyze the situation and become paralyzed from ever getting closer. In these types of cases, overthinking can become a bad thing. For some people it is very easy to get “stuck in their heads” and never step foot on their bodies.

At the other end of the spectrum, too little thought can often cause us to be foolish or reckless. If we never think about the consequences of our actions, we may neglect something important and pay the costs later. People who live impulsively (without future projection) usually have a poor future, because they make mistakes that they could have avoided by being a little more thoughtful and cautious.

Smart risk taking.

The balance between thinking and doing will largely depend on what you are trying to achieve.

As I mentioned earlier, approaching a girl at a bar can be an easier thing to “just do.” What is the worst that can happen? Will you say something stupid and be embarrassed? Will you be rejected? Maybe at worst they slap you?

The risks and costs are relatively minimal, so it doesn’t make much sense to worry about it. However, some people never face this anxiety because they convince themselves that this little embarrassment is the worst thing in the world. That’s not smart risk-taking, that’s dumb risk-avoidance. You will probably never see the girl again and she will forget about the experience by the end of the week. Don’t make a big deal out of nothing.

The same goes for jumping into cold pools.

Of course, there are other situations we may find ourselves in where the potential risks and costs are much greater. How to invest your retirement funds. That’s something worth thinking about deliberately and making sure you review every detail before making a decision. Making a mistake here could cost you all the money you’ve saved over the years, that’s a big deal. That’s when you need to act smarter, minimize risk loss and try to play safer. Acting impulsively with your savings is a disaster waiting to happen.

Anxiety and uncertainty.

All risk is the result of uncertainty. The future may be somewhat predictable, but we can never know for sure what will happen. It is often this uncertainty that causes us to experience anxiety before choosing a course of action.

Anxiety is a type of farsightedness: you look into the future and see where things are. May go wrong. We feel anxious before giving a public talk because we don’t know if it will turn out well or if we will be embarrassed.

The same is true for any other type of social anxiety or performance anxiety.

Of course, a little anxiety is good. Distinguishing “good anxiety” from “bad anxiety” is an important part of smart decision-making and risk-taking. Sometimes anxiety is a major signal that we should not pursue a particular course of action because the potential consequences are too great. Skydiving will usually make us more anxious than petting a rabbit because the risks of skydiving are much higher. When people develop “irrational” fears about rabbits, that’s usually a sign of an unhealthy phobia, because the fear doesn’t necessarily coincide with the risks.

Mundane activities (such as tying your shoes or taking a shower) don’t usually generate a lot of anxiety because they are more familiar, and therefore you go in with more certainty of how the event will unfold. Only if someone has a bad experience in a shower will they develop that anxiety and uncertainty that the bad event could happen again.

Does your anxiety match the risks?

As I mentioned before, anxiety is often considered “irrational” if it doesn’t match the potential risks. Some people are afraid to be in the same room as mustard, even when they understand that it does not pose a real threat. Anxiety may not match risks depending on a number of things: unfamiliarity with an experience, a faulty belief system, or a traumatic experience.

Some unhealthy anxiety can be overcome by trying to change our thoughts (as in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). We can reframe our perspective by looking at a situation from a different angle.

Sometimes we give too much importance to the present moment, but we miss the big picture.

Let’s go back to the example of approaching a girl in a bar. By now, you might know that it will absolutely SUCK if the girl rejects you and embarrasses you in front of your friends. You’ll be the laughing stock for the rest of the night.

but if you zoom out and see larger imageoften you realize that this event is not as important as you intended.

Imagine yourself at the age of 90 reminiscing about your college experiences at the bar: are you really going to care that 70 years ago a girl threw beer at you, slapped you, or told her friends your cheesy pick-up line? Probably not. In fact, you’d probably regret it more if you never took those little risks in the first place. Those little mistakes are the ones that enrich your life (and besides, now you have great stories to tell your grandkids!)

This is a simple example of how reframing your perspective can give you the freedom to take these small risks. Because they are just that little Risks And while you may experience some pain and discomfort in the moment, in the end these short-term costs can often lead to long-term rewards.

Too much risk avoidance.

When people are too risk-avoiding, they become chronic “babysitters”: they always sit on the sidelines, never do anything, and never risk their lives. As we know, sometimes this temperament can be quite beneficial, but other times it inhibits us from adapting to life in a more effective way. It inhibits us from personal growth.

Even when we try to avoid risk taking altogether, it’s something we can’t completely avoid. Every time we don’t act, we risk missing opportunities to improve our lives. On your deathbed, you may regret all those times you didn’t take a risk. The “what ifs” can haunt you, and sometimes it’s better to try something and fail (and fail) than never try at all.

In the end, healthy risk taking is about balance.

At the end of the day, I think it’s clear that we need to find a balance between risk seeking and risk avoidance. We should try to identify times when we should be more cautious and confident in our decision-making, but also identify other times when it might be worth taking the risks.

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